U.S. State & Local Legislation

The following states and municipalities have ewaste recycling and collection laws and/or electronic disposal bans. Most states and municipalities have Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, which place the responsibility for collection and disposal of electronic products at "End-of-Life" (EOL) upon manufacturers.

Currently, California is the only state with Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF) laws. ARF programs require consumers to pay an extra fee during the purchase of electronic products to cover the expense of managing a recycling program. See the Californians Against Waste website for further information.

Below is a state comparison list, with links to state environmental departments, passed and proposed bills, dates of bill passing and date of enactment, as well as a description of which electronics are covered under each ewaste and disposal law.

Summaries and Comparisons

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) provides a Brief Comparison of State Laws on Electronics Recycling, which includes the dates the laws were signed; scope of products covered; whether free recycling is offered and to whom; who pays for recycling; whether the legislation includes language on toxics; collection goals; whether the law includes a ban on the use of prison labor; whether a disposal ban is included; and a link to the text of the bill or law.

U.S. State & Local Laws Related to Other Electronics Life-cycle Stages or Not Specifically Related to Disposal

Cell phone kill switches: The following states have passed legislation requiring "kill switches" to be incorporated into cell phones sold within their boundaries. A kill switch is a means to render the device inoperable if stolen, the idea being that such a function would reduce the rising problem of cell phone theft. Pressure for such legislation has occurred in response to rising violence associated with incidents of cell phone theft. For more information on the issue in general, and on activity at the federal level, see the SEI U.S. Federal Legislation page.

Minnesota became the first state in the nation to pass kill switch legislation in May 2014. SF 1740will go into effect on July 1, 2015. "Any new smart phone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015, sold or purchased in Minnesota must be equipped with preloaded antitheft functionality or be capable of downloading that functionality. The functionality must be available to purchasers at no cost." See this 5/15/14 article by Niraj Chokshi in the Washington Post for more information.

California became the second state to pass such legislation, on August 25, 2014. SB 962will also go into effect on July 1, 2015, but unlike the Minnesota legislation, it will require disabling featutres to be installed and enabled by default on new smartphones sold within the state, although consumers may disable or opt-out of the "technological solution." And although this legislation is being called "kill switch" legislation in media coverage, if read carefully the law states "The technological solution shall be reversible, so that if an authorized user obtains possession of the smartphone after the essential features of the smartphone have been rendered inoperable, the operation of those essential features can be restored by an authorized user." Thus the "technological solution" in this case will NOT render devices completely useless except as fodder for recycling; it allows for potential human error and for the reuse of stolen devices reclaimed by the proper authorities. See this 8/25/14 article by Martyn Williams for PCWorld for more information.

Pending State & Local Legislation

Proposed Amendment to IL House Bill 4042, filed 11/12/14: This proposed amendment would increase recycling goals so that manufacturers would be required to recycle 100% (up from 50%) of the total weight of covered electronic devices sold in Illinois during the calendar year two years prior to the applicable program year. It would also prevent local governments acting as collectors from being charged a fee by registered refurbishers or recyclers to recycle or refurbish covered and eligible electronic devices, unless they are provided either a financial incentive (such as a coupon of equal or greater value than the fee being charged) or a premium service (such as curbside collection, home pick up, or similar method of collection), the latter being more applicable for local governments. Electronics recycling is already free for individual consumers in IL, under these same conditions. This legislation was introduced by Representative Emily McAsey, in response to the fact that during 2014, nearly all electronics manufacturers met their pre-established quotas for pound of electronics to recycle before the end of the year, resulting in cancellation of public collection events, reduced electronics recycling availability to IL citizens, and challenges to local governments trying to facilitate electronics recycling. As noted in an article in the Herald-News (Future of Will County Electronics Recycling Program in Jeopardy, Director Warns, 11/12/14), Illinois's electronics legislation was meant to fully pay for residential electronics recycling, but is failing to meet statewide demand as e-waste increases each year. Once manufacturers meet their weight goals under the legislation, they no longer have to pay recycling contractors to process items. This has lead to recyclers asking local governments to foot the bill for electronics recycling, which is currently allowed under state law, but which would result in large, unbudgeted additional costs to those government entities.

If you would like to suggest laws or policies not mentioned above for inclusion on this page, please contact Joy Scrogum .